Court ruling limits scope of Voting Rights Act
The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a claim of voting discrimination, sticking with what the Christian Science Monitor calls a “narrow” reading of the Voting Rights Act.
The Los Angeles Times said:
In a 5-4 decision, the court said officials need not consider race when drawing districts for state legislatures, county boards, city councils and school districts, so long as blacks do not make up a voting majority in a particular area.
The Court, in a 5-4 vote, essentially said that the minority voting blocks have to be at least 50 percent of the voting-age population in a district to qualify for the VRA.
Justice Kennedy said that enforcing the section of the VRA in areas with less than 50 percent voting-age minority residents would confer them greater protection.
The LA Times also reports that the court soon will hear another Voting Rights Act-related case:
Next month, the court will hear a closely watched challenge to another part of the Voting Rights Act which requires Southern officials to obtain the permission of the Justice Department before making changes in their election rules.
Jamie Riley is the P-D letters editor and gatekeeper of the letters blog. Before joining the editorial page in May 2005, she was a reporter and page designer. Jamie lives in University City with her husband, Charles, daughter, Elise, and the world's best Jack Russell terrier, Logan, better known as Stinky. 
As I read about this ruling and the case it was based upon, all I could think of was how, back in the 1970’s in the Los Angeles area, the Republicans were able to have part of one of the poorest black areas moved into the same voting district as one of the wealthiest white districts so that there would be no chance of a black person being elected.
I think either the 5 on the Supreme Court who voted in favor of this are overly idealistic about the honesty of legislatures in drawing voting districts, or, they are complicit in what will follow.
When are you going to put something else up here? This story is DAYS old!
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